Tempest
by Reily96
Summary: Princess Zelda Ione, daughter of the Prince-Regent Link and the late Queen Zelda has accidentally released Vaati from his prison in the Four Sword. Unbeknownst to her the evil she set free, she lives the next ten years of her life happily. Now of marrying age, she feels the pressure of being heir to the throne, yet has found an unconventional suitor. VaaZel Dark!fic Mfor later chps
1. The Vengeful Sorcerer

Oh hey, what's this? New story tiem? Why yes, yes it is! Tonight, Reily presents you with _Tempest_. This lovely story is a darkfic, of sorts. It's going to be... twisted and convoluted and that's partly why I'm so delighted to finally begin it after years of it swimming in my head. Being an enormous VaaZel fangirl, it's always bothered me how folks tend to... soften... Vaati when writing him in any context. I do not intend to do that with this story. He is not a sad, misunderstood guy; he's a Zelda villain, and a damn terrifying one when you take into account that he gained his power by his own means (sorta). As such, this will not be a fluffy romantic story, and throughout its course, I will be giving out some trigger warnings.

So yeah, no disclaimer because this is a fanfiction website. It should automatically be assumed that none of the characters, save for OCs, are my intellectual property.

EDIT: So I added an extra part towards the end. I was working on the next chpter when I realized the segment worked much better within this first chapter than the next. So yeah. I feel a bit embarrassed now but whatevs. That's what I get for writing off the seat of my pants. justlikeididinreversal

New readers, be warned,** I do not check my work before I submit it. Grievous mistakes are usually fixed within the next few days following the release of a chapter.** Without further adieu, here is the first part of _Tempest_. And trust me when I say the title speaks for the story.

* * *

"Princess Zelda, your father's going to get pissed at me." It was the deadpan voice of the extremely disinterested guardsman following the seven year old girl. Because truthfully, if there was anything this young guardsman wanted to do, it was certainly not to babysit a bratty little kid as she frolicked through the woods.

"No he won't," the girl said matter of factly, not at all looking like the princess she was in her muddied peasant dress. Her dirty blond hair was in disarray, falling messily down her face and back, hiding shining blue eyes that peered up at the disgruntled guard as she grinned at him, revealing missing teeth. "Because it's gonna be my job to make sure that place is safe. I should know all about it, so going here, especially with you, is good. I won't even tell him you said a bad word!" And with a mischievous giggle, she ran ahead, leaving the guard to scowl behind her.

"Why couldn't you ask my brother to take you instead?" He whined, his longer strides easily catching up with the princess as he looked down his long nose at her.

The princess paused to pout at him, "Because your big brother's a meanie! He never lets me go out past the garden!" And then she smiled that asymmetrical smile at him, "That's why I like you better, Mr. Poe."

The guard, actually feeling some sort of a blush on his face, simply averted his gaze from hers and scratched the back of his head absently, mussing his untidy black hair further in the process. "Whatever…" It was a typically teenaged answer, all the more fitting since the guardsman actually was a teenager, just barely old enough to be in the Guard Corps.

The girl said nothing, but skipped on ahead through the trees, laughing happily as she led the way to the Four Sword Shrine. Which as far as Poe care, she was perfectly entitled to go to whenever she wanted. As she said, she'd be hanging out there out there a lot in the future. Well, maybe not a lot, but enough so that it wouldn't be weird if she got to know the place a little better. After all, ever since the kid's mom croaked, the seal on that magical sword or whatever hadn't been checked at all. Who knew what was going on with… whatever was in there.

"Huh…" he thought to himself as he absently followed the little girl's wild steps. "Princess, what's supposed to be at the Four Sword Shrine?" He had a feeling he should've known, but he was never into history, however recent it was.

"Oh Mr. Poe, you're silly!" The girl chuckled, rolling her eyes at him. "There's a sword there!"

He paused in his tracks to hold the bridge of his nose and take a deep breath. If he thought the kid was cute a few minutes ago, he was back to thinking she was annoying. "No, that's not what I meant. What's the sword supposed to have?"

Zelda turned around excitedly, smiling broadly at the guard and jumped up and down in place, "Ooooh, I love to tell the story!"

Poe hadn't been looking for a story, but much as he wanted to tell the kid to stuff it, he couldn't. If he made her cry, he didn't even want to think about what her dad would do to him. Not that he had heard of the Prince-Regent doing anything horrible to anyone who offended his daughter, but he didn't want to be the first to find out otherwise. She was Hyrule's little gem, after all; a miracle child born from a minutes dead woman. She was precious to all in the castle… well, mostly all.

With an exasperated sigh, he sat down in the grass and leaned against a fallen log. The little girl plopped down and excitedly began, "When my mommy and daddy were little, they would go to the Picori Festival together every year! And one day, on a special Picori Festival, a mystrous-mystenous-" Her face was scrunching up strangely as she tried to grasp the word.

"Mysterious," Poe drawled a correction. He knew the story; everyone knew the story, but the kid may as well have her fun.

"Mysterious! Yes, there was a mysterious man who won the sword fighting tournament! So he would get to touch the Picori Sword! It was a fancy, magic sword that killed lots of monsters and kept more monsters locked up in a chest! But the mysterious-" Poe took note of the way she drew out the word; he was fairly certain this was her new favorite word, "-man went a broke the sword, and he let all of the monsters out! He was looking for something, but he couldn't find it, and then – then he turned my mommy into a statue!" The way she paused after saying that told Poe she had been looking for a reaction. He didn't give her one.

After a brief moment of disappointment, she continued, "So then my daddy went on a mission to fix the Picori Sword; and then he found this magic, talking hat! And together with the talking hat, he went on all these adventures, beating up monsters and fixing the Picori Sword! And when the sword was all fixed, it became the Four Sword! But while he had been fixing the sword, the evil man pretended to be my grandpa! And he took over the castle and everyone was statues! And then he found out what he was looking for was with my mommy, so he tried to steal it from her! And then my daddy came, and the man turned into a monster, and then daddy used the Four Sword to lock him up inside of it! So, so the monster, um… um, Vaati? Yes, Vaati! He's locked up in the Sword!"

_All that chatter just to be reminded of a history lesson._ He thought dully. Everyone learned that story in school, about how the late Queen and the Prince-Regent fought Vaati. He'd just never really paid attention in class all that much since he was busy hiding dead squirrels from his brother. As such, hearing that Vaati wasn't dead but in fact sealed within the Four Sword was kind of new. Kind of.

"Well if we're gonna go see that Sword, we need to pick up the pace, Princess. Your father's gonna notice we're gone soon." He said, using his spear to help pull himself from the ground.

The girl shot up immediately and giggled before rushing off and leading the way again. The guard just tried to make out the sun through the tree tops. The sun was beginning to lower on the western front, he thought, and the princess should have been going to her afternoon studies. There was no way they were going to make it back in time. Yup, he was gonna get in trouble. How irritating. But he'd get in even more trouble if he didn't come back with the kid. And since he was going to get in trouble anyways, no use in trying to stop her from seeing the place.

After what seemed like forever, Zelda finally squealed, "It's here!" as they entered the clearing of the Four Sword Shrine. It had been made by decree of the late King to ensure the safety of the Four Sword, as well as the upkeep of its seal. It was an open shrine, with no ceiling or roof and built with three walls and pointless pillars scattered around. On the back wall, carefully place bricks were slightly raised from the wall in the shape of a single, upwards glancing eye. And just before the wall was a dais with a sword lodged upright in a pedestal in the center. The eye, no doubt, was a warning as to what lay within the blade before them and why no one aside from the princess and her father was really allowed in this area.

For a few moments, the princess stood still and looked at the sword with awe. Poe simply stood, as disinterested by it as he was when the princess first came up to him and asked him to walk with her to the Shrine. But disinterest soon turned to alarm as the princess scuttled closer to the sword. "Princess… I don't think you should be getting so close to that thing." There was worry in his voice; he wasn't even going to try to hide it.

"But… I hear something." She said distantly.

Poe stepped forward hurriedly to the girl and took her by the arm with his free hand, his uneasiness all too apparent as he said, "Oh no, you are definitely not going near that thing then."

"But Mr. Poe, someone needs help." The girl was practically pleading as she struggled futilely against the guard's grip, trying to get closer to the Four Sword.

"Don't be stupid; it's the monster! You know, the one you were telling me about!" He said angrily, pulling the girl aside and dropping his spear so that he had the girl's shoulders in his hands, forcing her dirtied face to look at his. "It's the monster; it's Vaati."

The girl bit her lip, her eyes trying to wander towards the sword, but Poe shook her lightly, bringing her attention back to him. "B-but… he sounds so… so lonely. He hurts, Mr. Poe. It doesn't sound like a monster." She said, distressed.

The guardsman looked beyond the young princess to the Four Sword, the stone image of the evil mage's eye looming beyond it making it a menacing image. The beast was speaking to her somehow. He didn't know how; he couldn't hear a thing…

He couldn't hear a thing. There was nothing but absolute silence in this place. Unnatural silence…

The guard looked back to the princess, "Listen to me, Princess; the monster is lying to you. He's trying to make you feel sorry for him, he doesn't mean it." He honestly didn't know when he'd begun to see this brat as something meaningful to him, but he definitely did not want anything bad happening to her. Especially not with a real monster so near…

The princess remained silent for a moment, her eyes lowering to the space between her ruddy peasant shoes. "I… You're right, Mr. Poe."

He let out a sigh of relief, and his grip on Zelda's shoulders relaxed. "We should get going now. Your father's probably going to skin me alive if you don't get home to our studies soon." Hah, that actually seemed so trivial to say now. He let her go and went to pick up his spear, but a flash of dirty blond hair running away from him made his head snap back up, only to be horrified at the sight of the princess stopping at the pedestal of the Four Sword to touch it.

The guardsman grabbed his fallen spear and began to sprint towards the foolish princess, but he was too late. She had touched the blade, and as soon as she did so, a claw emerged from the sword and hoisted the princess upwards. The girl screeched, banging her tiny balled fists against the giant black claw that was squeezing her seemingly to death.

Poe snarled as he thrust his spear at the arm of the claw that was streaming from the blade, only for some unseen force like the wind throw him aside like a rag doll. He fell to the floor face first, pain searing through his head and stars swirling in his vision. The guard attempted to push himself up, but gasped as he had trouble breathing. His face was wet and sticky; he tasted blood in his mouth and he couldn't breathe. But he couldn't dwell on that; he could no longer hear the princess. He gathered his focus and looked to where he had last scene the girl fighting helpless against a giant claw, only to be more horrified as he saw it was no longer just a claw.

It was the Sorcerer from twenty years ago fully returned, a hellish cyclopean, horned bat creature; its great red eye making the stone wall with his likeness look like some failed attempt at true menace. The creature's eye was focused on the girl lying limp within his claw. The guard did not know how, but he could see the hatred mixed with glee at the sight of the thing in its grasp.

Poe let out a blood curdling scream as charged towards the monster. Unarmed as he was, he could not allow this creature to hurt the princess any further! And if she was dead – oh goddesses if she was dead!

Yet the mage's eye only stared in his direction as if bored, and another claw jutted from its spherical depths and went straight at Poe. But the guard did not care; he needed to get the princess! But the claw did not grab him, it only pointed at him. And then Poe realized he wasn't moving. Aside from breathing, he was not moving. He could not move. With a great snarl, he began to yell profanities at the beast, threatening him with all the worst things he could possibly think to say.

"_What a foul mouth_."

Poe shut up. The words were unpleasant to hear; the words of a demon. He grit his teeth, helplessly feeling the sweat drip down his face and blending in with the blood.

"_That's better. I don't much like to hear pointless banter_." Vaati said, his eye brimming with malicious contentment. Poe said nothing, though in actuality he wanted to say quite a bit. He just let the hatred in his gaze do all the talking for him. "_Oh, yes… Yes, I know your type. I spent a great deal of time observing your breed of human. Let me guess, cats? Cats are always a popular choice if what I observed was anything to go by._"

"Go to hell." He spat. Cats… It was just guessing about the cats. Right?

"_Oh yes, it would do to have a fellow like you under my orders._"

And just as Poe was about to tell the demon spawn to go back to hell, the very tip of its claw touched his forehead.

All of a sudden, the world was upside down, spinning all over the place. Things were… things were different. He felt the rush of the demon's magic flow through him, electrify every single nerve within him. But he felt it most in his brain, as if tinkering this way and that way, changing things… making things… making things _better_. This demon was helping him see the light, so to speak; showing him that the life of mere guard was meaningless. What was the point when all he had wanted to do was cut things open, take pleasure in the suffering of those he hated – yes, this demon… no, not a demon. It was his _Master_.

He had full control of his body again. The claw that his Master had pointed to him was gone, retracted back into the unseen depths of a demonic vessel. He looked at the great red eye with wonderment and awe. He knelt down, lowering his head to the beast. "I am at your service, Master." He sounded as if was a million miles away.

Vaati let a low rumble of laughter fill the air of the Shrine, taking delight at the creation of a thrall. Why he hadn't done it before, he did not know! Right now he could tell the pathetic thing to fall on its own spear and it would so without hesitation. But no, that wasn't why he gave the little worm the honor. "_Tell me, thrall; what is this disgusting thing in my claw?_" He asked, referring to the unconscious girl in his hands.

"That is the Princess Zelda Ione Harkinian, Master. Sole heir to Hyrulean throne; daughter of the late Queen Zelda Harkinian and Prince-Regent Link Smith." Poe explained thoroughly and dreamily.

"_Really now?_" Vaati mused as he rolled the wrist of his claw, lolling the little girl this way and that. "_This little thing is _their_ child?_" He honestly wasn't sure whether he should be amused or disgusted. Yes, he had his suspicions given that only the blood relations of the princess or her hero could release hi, but he'd thought this girl was just a mere fluke or something. The Zelda that he had known had probably been no more than twelve or thirteen years old, yet looked as regal as her fool father. But _this_ Zelda looked the very opposite of a princess. But perhaps the most interesting thing about his thrall's explanation… "Only_ daughter of the late Queen with a Link, you say?_"

"Yes, Master." Poe replied obediently.

How interesting, the mage thought. How very interesting.

The mage gingerly placed the girl onto the ground, saying to his thrall, "_Take the girl back home. If anyone asks what happened, make something up; kidnappers or some such nonsense. Make that broken nose of yours count for something._"

Poe stood and nodded, going to the princess and taking her up in his arms. He looked up to his Master and asked, "What if she remembers what just happened?"

The wind mage scoffed, "_Pass it off as a bad dream; the overactive imagination of a child. You can even make it coincide with whatever trash you spout to her father. Whatever the case, no one must know of my release._"

"Yes, Master. Shall I go now, Master?" Poe asked, half-lidded eyes still in the highs of his recent enthrallment.

"_Yes, but one more thing._"

"Yes, Master?"

"_Be this girl's confidante; her best friend. This is your mission. It is a great one, and knowing your type, you probably won't take kindly to it – but you shall do it. If you don't-_"

"I would never, ever defy you, Master!" Poe quickly responded, the horror in his voice reflecting just how well the enthrallment went. "If that is my mission, I will do it without hesitation!"

Had Vaati had a mouth at that moment, his grin would have frozen the air around him. "_Good. You may go now… and you will be hearing from me soon._"

With an incline of his head and a "Yes, Master," the guardsman turned slave to Vaati, Sorcerer of Winds, walked off with the young princess in his arms. The mage was satisfied with his work. Not ten minutes after his release and he already had an even more wonderful plan than his original one of slowly killing that hateful child that sealed him in the terrible blade. All he had to do was make sure there was still some presence of himself on this blade…

And then everything would work out just fantastically.

* * *

Zelda awoke with a start, sitting up immediately and panting wildly. Covered in a cold sweat and deeply distressed, she silently sobbed into her hands.

She had the nightmare again. The one where she and Poe had gone to the Four Sword Shrine and the beast had grabbed her. With a shaking intake of breath, her sobs stopped. Some part of it, she knew, was real. She and Poe had gone to the Shrine, but there was no beast. Poe had told her that after they had left, anarchists had tried to kidnap her. All she could really remember was the bloody faced guard smiling at her and telling her everything was going to be all right.

There was no monster. And ever since she started checking on the Four Sword, the seal remained strong; and the voice that she thought she had heard those years ago was no longer there.

With a sigh, she lay back down, but she did not try to go back to sleep. That nightmare always deterred her from sleep, so all she did was stare up at the ceiling. It had to have been past midnight, she was sure. She always woke up from the nightmares past midnight; she remembered overhearing the maids speak to her father in concern about his daughter would wake in the wee hours of the morning. And if it was the next day…

_It's my birthday._ She thought to herself. She was seventeen. That information didn't make her feel any older or wiser. It just made her feel silly for having the same nightmares since she was a child. She turned on her side curled up, wondering to herself if she'd ever be free of the nightmares.

* * *

Some notes: Updates shall be sporadic. _Fly Away_ and the parallel story I am working on it for it are my main priorities. As such, this take a back seat to those stories. Rest assured, though; this story will likely be finished way before FA ends. It shouldn't be too long.

For those unfamiliar with my work, Poe is a recurring OC of mine. Often times, he was kind of the buttmonkey of my OCs, very easy to make fun of due to an obsessive fanboyish attraction to Vaati. As I kept developing Poe from the original story he appeared in, I wanted to give him a bigger role as well as explain where this obsession with Vaati comes from. I ended up coming up with a backstory for him that I found fit in very well with what I had envisioned for this story. As such, he and his brother, Gibdo, are actually pretty major characters in this story. In general, though, don't feel too bad for Poe. He was a serial killer in the making already, and some part of him didn't resist the enthrallment.

Also, Link as a Prince-Regent rather than King. Well... I gotta be honest, I could never imagine Link as a king. I doubt he would want to be; he's a very humble guy, probably feels unworthy. He also has no royal blood in the MC-verse. If he married into royalty, he'd be given a title, and not necessarily the title of king upon marrying a princess, though.

... I had more to say, I know. But it's 4:30 AM and I have classes tomorrow.


	2. Changes

I don't know if you'll be able to tell that this is one of those chapters that I had outlined and ready, then when I started writing the chapter kind of said "Screw your outline; I'm doing what I wanna do." And that's what happened...

Um,_ trigger warning_, I guess, past character death. ... It feels weird doing these.

* * *

Where had the time gone, Link wondered as he walked to the stables. Ione was seventeen; a year away from taking the throne. It had seemed like just yesterday she had been learning her first words and running around, causing a panic to all of the servants. The latter thought made him chuckle. Sometimes she still drove them a bit crazy – she could still be quite willful…

That was also what made him a bit apprehensive about the day.

As he entered the stables, hearing the whinnies of horses and the scuffling of the stable hands that had long grown accustomed to leaving the Prince-Regent to his business since he demanded no formalities, he wandered to the stall that called his attention most days. The mare that took residence in that stall whinnied happily to see him; he smiled at her and softly stroked her muzzle. "I hope everything goes well, girl. Hopefully you'll help along with that, yes?"

"Daddy?"

Link turned to see his birthday girl and smiled. It was hard to believe the young woman he saw over at the end of the stables was the same little girl who loved to roll around in the mud so many years ago. That wild blond hair had been so caked with dirt in her younger years, most never really noticed the slightest tints of red in the girl's hair that was now groomed nicely, and hung up with a red bow. And he remembered how hard it was to get the little girl to wear "princess" dresses, yet here she was now looking like a true princess. How had she grown so quickly? "Happy birthday, Ione." He said with a smile.

The girl smiled back and rushed to her father to give him a hug. "Thank you, Daddy."

"You're supposed to thank me after I've given you your gift," he teased lightly.

"Gift?" She pulled away and looked up at him excitedly.

He supposed some things would never change. "Yes; look in the stable."

Zelda looked, then her blue eyes widened and she looked at her father with utmost shock. "Epona? B-but she's _your_ horse!"

"And I know you love to sneak rides on her when you say you're practicing embroidery," he said good-humoredly. "She's all yours."

Despite an initial blush that said she'd thought she kept her truancy a secret, she tightly embraced her father again, excitedly saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Daddy!" She pulled away and reached out to pet the mare happily, "Oh I wish I was in a riding gear to take her out right now!"

The apprehension came back. "Why don't you go get changed? We can take a ride together." Link suggested.

He'd barely suggested it before the girl rushed off. The stable hands laughed as they saddled Epona for Zelda and a stallion for him. The Prince-Regent was just glad that someone could see the amusement in the situation; all he could think of was of how all badly this could go. He had faith in his daughter and a reasonable and rational young lady, but like any good father, he worried if all that he had done for her was "right." Link honestly had no idea what the conversation he would attempt to broach with her would yield.

Would she lose that smile? He'd been so busy in the past few weeks in forming the trade agreements with Holodrum, arranging for their ambassador's visit, he'd barely seen her. And the added stress of trying to help the local militia locate the serial murderer _and_ keep it a secret from the general populace… He didn't want their first real conversation after such a long while to be one that would grieve her. For both their sakes.

He knew that Potho's successor, Cole, had called her Hyrule's precious gem. It was a purely political thing, as Cole was the very opposite of Potho, being the picture of a heartless politician, but the people ate it up. Ione was a miracle child, a blessing from the goddess. As cheesy as it sounded, however, Link would admit that it was true.

He could still remember the terrible day as his wife was rushed to the birthing room. Men weren't allowed in the room, only making the situation all the more tense for Link when all that he could hear was the woman he loved screaming in agony before a deathly silence fell. There was no screaming from a woman or a baby, only the frantic chatter of hushed voices from birthing room. He remembered thinking, _Tradition be damned_, and running into the room to see the midwife manually moving his wife's bloodied legs apart, while the tearful maids tried to rush him out. The picture in his mind of that moment still caused him an unending amount of grief. Zelda, his best friend, the love of his life… blue-lipped, pale and lifelessly staring at the ceiling. The world had seemed to crash around him, and he remembered pushing his way through the maids and wailing as he fell to his wife's side, pleading to the goddesses desperately for this tragedy to be a lie. But the midwife told him to shut up, saying that there still may have been a chance for the baby.

Oh that flicker of hope! He could only remember begging the goddesses further, if they could at least save his child… And they did. Despite the mother losing life, Ione was born, a perfectly healthy, wailing baby. A miracle.

Link would always think of her as such. A miracle in his life. The last remnant he'd had of his beloved Zelda and the love that they had shared. And it was always at his busiest times that he regretted not being able to give her as much attention as she deserved.

It went to show how excited Ione was when she had come back minutes later in her riding dress and the father-daughter pair rode off into Hyrule Field. The princess happily rode ahead of her father, only further making him recall the more carefree days of her youth.

Unable to catch up to the wily girl and her mare, Link didn't even try to converse during their outing until it was time to water the horses. They sat down by the edge of the creek as the horses drank, and Ione took to looking at her reflection in the water. As his daughter began to redo her hair in the ribbon she'd become so fond of, he finally said, "Ione, you're seventeen now."

The girl's smile shrunk slightly, "Yes."

"… Next year, my regency will be revoked."

The girl's face became stoic; Link's heart sank. "Yes…" She responded.

"I know it isn't something that you like to think about; but the longer we put off discussing it, the harder it will be when the day comes." He said gently.

Ione sighed, and nodded, "I understand, Daddy." She said, sounding somewhat disheartened.

There was short pause before Link began, "You know, when your mother and I were young, she often snuck out of the castle to see me." Ione looked at him, interest in his words clear on her face. "It was only with me did she have the chance to know what it meant to really be a child. So when…" he stopped, not wanting to be reminded of his wife's death again for the second time that day, "When you came along, I said I would give you the chance to live your childhood as I did. It wasn't a particularly liked idea, but I have no regrets. You've had a childhood every child ought to have. I think that, if anything, that works to your advantage. You've lived a normal life, gone to classes with others of your life, and you've had a sprinkling of your mother's life, with private classes and etiquette… You're the balance that Hyrule needs to continue to be prosperous." He told her, looking at her fondly with pride.

The princess wasn't sure what to make of those words. The idea that the kingdom would be fully her responsibility in a year was terrifying, but her father had such faith in her… Sensing her worry, her continued on, "And when you're unsure of something, you always have me and Minister Cole to look to – yes, I know Cole isn't a pleasant fellow, but he knows what he's talking about."

She'd made a face at the mention of Cole; she didn't like him very much, but her father was right. Still, she couldn't quite find the words to express her thoughts and feelings on all of this. Truthfully, Ione had hoped she wouldn't be having this conversation until it was closer to her eighteenth birthday. But she could understand the importance of bringing up this up earlier, much as she just wanted to not think about it.

"But Ione… that isn't what I really wanted to speak to you about." There was a degree of discomfort in his voice, one that said even he didn't seem to want to get into the next subject. The girl forked an eyebrow, finding it unusual that her father wasn't getting straight to his real point. "The thing is… you're seventeen… And," his face scrunched up, "Technically… the age that… that young women are of age to be… to be courted… is fifteen." He finished, looking as if he were saying the most horrible words to ever come from his mouth. Then again, he was a father. If it were up to him, his daughter would never get married.

Ione, however, did not really see why it was such a horrible prospect. No, in fact, she was confused. She knew as well as anyone else did that fifteen was the magical age where a girl was eligible to be courted, but she never really thought of it because there was no debutante ball for her advertising her eligibility, nor had any potential boyfriends seemed to want to spend much time with her. It dampened her spirits quite a bit, but now that she was thinking of it, she realized that certain outside forces might have had something to do with it. Looking at her father, she had a fairly decent idea what that outside force was.

As if reading her mind, her father blushed and said, "I may have delayed your debut."

While she was fine with her father being protective, she had to admit she wasn't very fond of the measure of control he'd taken over her life. It made a lot of sense why the boys around her, with the exceptions of the guards, never seemed to want to spend much time around her. Who would dare try to court the daughter of the Prince-Regent, slayer of monsters and the man who defeated the great sorcerer from thirty years ago? No one, that's who. Those that did usually seemed to change their minds within the next few days. In fact, she remembered last year she had the hugest crush on the son of a guardsman, Kasuto. He was an older boy and super handsome; he would often flirt with her and she began to spend more time with him than she even did with Poe. Within a month, his father had been stationed at Hyrule-Labrynna border and he had to leave. "Daddy, how could you?!" She wailed.

Link's lips were a thin, flat line, "I won't anymore." She crossed her arms and gave her father a skeptical look, but he continued on, saying, "I'm telling the truth. In realizing that next year you're going to be taking the throne, I've also realized that… Well… Such a position is difficult to handle alone."

The girl cocked her head to the side in a measure of puzzlement. "But I won't be alone. You said it yourself, I'll have you and Cole."

Her father sighed, "Ione, even with us around, there will be times when you feel as if no one is there. Sometimes you need someone… different."

She considered his words for a moment, looking back to the stream as if the water held all the answers. But she grinned that broad smile of hers and said excitedly, "All right then, Daddy," he relaxed, but tensed up when he heard his daughter add, "_But_-" With a grimace, he nodded for her to continue, "But I want a proper debut – the one I was supposed to get when I turned fifteen." She stood up excitedly and spread her arms wide, "I want a big party with all of Castle Town invited! In fact, it should be in Castle Town, just like the Picori Festival!"

Link frowned at that. Inviting all of Castle Town was fine; Hyrule was a small kingdom with very few "courtly manners;" while there was still some royal tradition expected of the royal family, interaction between all walks of life was the norm – partly the reason why he was able to wed his Zelda so easily. He was born a commoner after all and, even with the title of Prince-regent, still identified himself as such . What concerned him was his daughter's choice of venue. He hadn't told her about the murderer… And a party… There would be so many people and so many places to remain unseen… If the murderer had another target, it might be his chance to strike again… He stood as well, approaching his daughter and gently saying, "Ione, I don't think Castle Town is-"

But she stopped him and pointed an accusatory finger at him, "No, it's going to be in Castle Town." She said sternly. "I don't see why the people have to leave the comfort of the town to have fun. Just because I'm a princess doesn't mean they have to come to me; in fact, it even makes more sense that I should go to them."

Flabbergasted by Ione's logic, Link gave in. There was no arguing with her, his strong willed child. But while she made excellent points, and continued her tirade of planning as they rode back to the castle, the Prince-Regent refused to subject the people of Castle Town to any further danger. There was the option of telling Ione the truth, why he truly thought Castle Town was unsafe… but he did not wish to worry her. With an inward grimace, he planned the security in his mind. The guards would, unfortunately, not be getting a day off. All of them were reporting for duty. They needed to be on full alert during the celebrations just in case anything unfortunate were to happen.

* * *

Despite the cheery attitude that Zelda had while with her father, she was secretly quite distressed. She tried to be genuinely excited for the party she had suggested, even going so far as inviting the mayor to come to the castle that evening so she could discuss it with him. In a way, she knew that this party she was throwing for herself would probably be the last one she could genuinely enjoy without worrying how ambassadors from Holodrum might perceive it or how it would affect the economy of their small kingdom. It would be her last true ounce of freedom, since after that, she would have to focus on doing the best she could to make sure she could handle the kingdom.

After arranging for the meeting, she had taken to spending her time in the garden by one of the fountains. She waved her hand absently in the water, watching the disturbance of her fingers cause small swirls in the slowly flowing water. Sighing as she watched her warped reflection wavering in the water, she tried to consider the fact that things wouldn't be so bad. While it was true her father had been so busy lately, trying to expand the kingdom and build better relations with the neighboring countries, who was to say it was really so bad?

But her train of thought was disturbed as she noticed something odd in the reflections of the water. There was herself, the castle wall, the greenery of the flowering bushes but… It almost looked as if something was circling overhead, carefully avoiding causing shadows. Was it a bird? No… it was flying but, not like a bird. More like… a bat. Which she didn't mind much; bats had been flying past her window for as long as she could remember. But it was broad daylight. With a puzzled pout, she went to look up.

"Princess!"

Zelda jumped a little, not having expected to hear Poe. He must have just gotten off of his shift. She looked to the maze of bushes to see her favorite guardsman coming over to her and carrying a cheese bun. Poe quickly approached and handed her the bun, "Happy birthday."

She accepted it, "Thank you, Poe. You'll never forget how much I love these, will you?"

"Of course not, Princess." He said with a smile. Anyone who wasn't Zelda might have thought seeing the hook-nosed guard smile looked kind of scary, but she knew he was as sweet a soul as there could be. The only reason he even had that hooked nose was because he'd saved her so long ago. "I heard your dad gave you Epona," he said, sitting on the grass before her. "I still can't believe you can actually ride that wild thing."

She chuckled and reprimanded him playfully, "She's not a _thing_; she's a beautiful, graceful mare. If you can't even walk her from the stable it's only because you don't respect her as much as you should."

The guard rolled his eyes. She knew he wasn't much of an animal person.

She nibbled the bun cheerfully, her spirits having raised now that her best friend was by her side. "Oh, and there's going to be a celebration! I'm hoping it'll be next week, but I need to sort the particulars with the mayor – I want it to be in Castle Town."

"Party, huh? Eh, too bad your dad'll probably have all us guards working." Poe mused.

Zelda gave him a sympathetic smile. There were no breaks for the guardsmen during special events… though in all honesty, she'd noticed that most guardsmen hardly got any breaks anymore and her father seemed very tight-lipped as to why. She supposed she could always ask Poe why that was, but that just seemed like the sort of thing she needed to ask her father herself. … _After the party_, she told herself. That was official business; no worrying about that until after the party, her last stint of freedom.

"Something the matter, Princess?"

Snapped out of her reverie and back to the present, she looked to her friend and tried to be cheerful, but failed. Finally, she decided if there was anyone to tell, it would be Poe. "I'm scared, Poe. In a year, I'll have to take the throne. It seems like such a long time, but it's really so short of a time."

The guardsman just smirked, "That just means you have to live life to the fullest while you have it. Go crazy; do things you'd think twice about normally." He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

A musical chuckle escaped her lips, and for a moment she considered it. "Yes, I should! I should… I should take up fox hunting, or metal smithing – I imagine Daddy could teach me a thing or two about that. Or maybe I should do something truly outrageous and run away to Labrynna for a week!" _Maybe even find that Kasuto and give him a kiss_, she thought with a playful blush. It's not like her father could stop her now that he'd said he wouldn't interfere in any potential love life she were to have. But she chuckled the thoughts out of her head, knowing she probably couldn't do something as crazy as leaving the country for a day let alone week. With a sigh, the girl tilted her head thoughtfully and looked to her friend, "Did you do that before you became a guardsman?"

There was something in the guard's expression, a gleam in his eyes that added a certain enigmatic quality to his smile. "Actually, I think I'm more alive now than I ever was before."

She looked so hopeful for a moment, "Perhaps I can feel that way when I take the throne; I mean, I remember when you seemed so hesitant about being a guardsman."

The guard pulled lightly on one of his straggly black locks, "Yeah, things certainly change." Again, there was a quality about him as he said it that made him seem like he wasn't telling all. She wondered what it was, but wasn't about to pressure him to share. If he wanted to, he would. Evidently, he didn't feel like it was important, as he ended up losing that far off look and saying carelessly, "But really, Princess, I wouldn't think too hard about what the future might hold. Just enjoy life as it comes to you."

She finished off the cheese bun and gave the guardsman a broad smile. "You're absolutely right, Poe. Thank you."

Looking as if his feathers had been preened to peacocking quality, he only responded with, "It just means I'm doing my job as a servant."

The girl rolled her eyes. _Leave it to a guardsman to think like that._ "No, really, Poe. Even though I have friends in Castle Town and in the castle itself… thank you. You're really the only one I can open to like this." She said honestly.

The guard just gave her a prideful smile… which quickly dropped to one of utmost loathing as a voice rang out through the gardens calling, "Poe! Where are you, Poe?!"

"Dammit…" the man cursed.

"Oh, Poe, you didn't skip work, did you?" Zelda asked her friend in a hushed whisper.

He had no time for any sort of response as he scrambled up just in time for a bearded guardsman to walk from the small hedge maze to them. The man grimaced at the sight of Poe with princess, "Poe! You were supposed to cover for Shiro, not… not _flirt_ with the princess just an hour after her father says she's open to be courted!"

The younger guardsman slapped his own forehead, "Goddesses… Gibdo you're being ridiculous. She's like a _sister_."

"We already have a sister!"

"Yeah, who _you_ drove away from the family!"

Zelda fidgeted as the guard brothers went back and forth then, talking about the runaway Ghini. She always felt strange around the two when they were like this, mainly because she was always put in the position of a spectator to some family drama. Then again, as long as she could remember, the two brothers never really got along. Gibdo always had the passion to be a guard, followed orders right to the letter and never broke a single rule, while Poe was the exact opposite in a lackluster attitude towards his work (but not when it counted, Zelda made sure to mentally add) and wasn't above 'bending' the rules. From what she understood, the older brother actually pressured Poe into being a guardsman as well.

In the end, a very pride-beaten Poe was being dragged by the ear by his brother while she sadly waved him off.

And sometimes she wondered what it would be like if she'd had siblings…

Whatever the case, she was alone in the garden again. As she let out a sigh, she remembered the bat she saw flitting around overhead. She looked up, seeing what she had expected: nothing. The bat probably wandered back off to its nest after having accidentally flitted off or something. She knew there was a nest of bats somewhere nearby, despite all the servants and guards saying that the only bats nearby were the keese in the Minish Woods. Only Poe seemed to know anything about the bats she spoke of, but he always assured her they were friendly and wouldn't cause her harm. Nothing had ever happened to prove him wrong, either.

She laughed then, remembering one time when she was small even going so far as to try and catch one of the bats. Zelda could remember telling Poe all of her plans to catch them, and the guard would just laugh at her and tell her, "These bats are different from ordinary bats – they're really hard to catch. Not that you need to catch one," then he'd scruff up her buzzard's nest of a head and finish off with a, "One day, those bats are going to be real friendly with you."

_What goes through that guard's head_, she wondered then. A bat was a bat; it would fly and shy away from humans unless a human were to feed it… And these bats were strange in the fact that in all her years of trying to coax them to get near her, they never once took any food she offered. Even food she left out remained untouched. So she was fairly certain the guard had his head up in the clouds when he said they would be friendly with her.

Then something seemed to zap through her head; a sense of wrongness that made her stand abruptly and nearly retch. She was still clutching at her stomach when the feeling suddenly left, leaving her feeling helpless… and disturbingly nostalgic. She'd felt this sensation before. When she was just a child and unspoken words seeped into her head, trying to trick her, a memory that always changed in her nightmares, when she'd felt it as a malicious, black claw sweeping her from the ground and squeezing her with slow, crushing force.

Just the mere remembrance of the nightmare caused her knees to buckle a whimper escape from her lips. She knew what the feeling was, she knew what it meant. Something had to be wrong with the seal on the Four Sword…

Princess Zelda was terrified.

If there was something wrong with the sword, then it was her duty as her mother's successor to check and rebuild the seal if necessary. And something was wrong with it, she just knew it. That feeling of horrid menace…

The monster was not real, she had told herself in the early hours of the morning… She released the shuddering breath she had hitched in her throat and slowly stood up. _But the monster _is_ real… _She clenched her hands into fists, a fire coming into her eyes. _And I have to make sure it doesn't get out_.

Zelda gave no warning to anyone; she rushed to the stables, saddled Epona herself and rode off to the Sanctuary. It was customary usually to have at least two or three guardsman or her father with her when she went to the Shrine, but she had to do this alone. That sense of wrongness that so reminded her of her nightmares… if she didn't do this alone, she would never see relief from those horrid dreams. She had to face it and contain it, or else this fear would own her. She'd been known as a strong-willed, fearless girl for a reason, and she'd be damned if she was going to let something as silly as a child's nightmare get the better of her!

Never mind the fact that the content of the nightmare was as real as she was and just waiting for a crack in its seal so that it could break free and wreak havoc on the populace.

But she had to do this alone… and if she could come back quickly before anyone noticed, all the better when she announced what she had done by herself. Proving that she was capable… That she was not just some wild child…

_Hah… my last week of freedom has barely started and I'm already taking on serious responsibility._ She thought bitterly as her horse galloped through the dirt beaten path. But this was also incredibly personal, she justified. Trade with Holodrum was business; Vaati was family history _and_ the source of bad memories and nightmares.

As she saw the clearing in the woods that lead to the Shrine, she was becoming increasingly more aware of the fear in her mind growing as the horse continued to gallop forward. But upon reaching the stones of the Shrine, the mare abruptly came to a stop with a protesting whiny, and had the princess not been holding so tightly to her steed in anxiety, she may have fallen off. Zelda pursed her lips, noting how the horse only seemed to be comfortable when her hooves were completely off the stone floor and back on the dirt path.

She dismounted the mare, staring at her mare's rusty coat for a long moment before taking a shuddering breath to gather her courage and walk forward.

Given Epona's reaction to the stone floor of the Shrine, the girl had expected that her first step onto the stones might provoke something as well. But there was nothing. She did not re-experience the surging sensation of malicious intent towards her or feel anything aside from normal… or as normal as the Shrine usually got. Still on edge, she continued to step forward slowly. Everything in the area was unnaturally quiet. It always was. There were never birds or squirrels in the place. The only movement was that of the wind blowing the trees, and currently the only sound was of Zelda's nervous, quick breaths, her own steps, and the nervous mare's movements just outside the Shrine proper.

Content that everything in the surroundings was more or less normal, Zelda was able to continue towards the actual Four Sword with a bit more confidence in her stride. She tried to focus on the blade itself and not on the mural on the wall behind it. The mural reminded her all too much of the beast from her nightmares, and, while she was doing her best to fight off the sense that she needed to high tail it out of there, she didn't want to face that just yet.

Still, she had calmed significantly when she had reached the step leading to the dais with the pedestal that contained the Sword. She let her magical senses probe at the blade, poking and prodding it in attempts to find any weakness or cracks within the seal on the Four Sword.

There was nothing.

She rechecked the blade two more times and came up with the same answer. Absolutely nothing was wrong with the seal since she last checked on it over a month ago. There were no weaknesses to the seal, no little cracks… Perfectly intact in every way.

Stunned, Zelda took a step backward. _How is this possible?_ She thought to herself. How could she have felt what she had felt earlier if the seal was perfectly intact? Had she just been imagining things? She had to have been… but how could something she just imagined be powerful enough to send her to what she thought was the source of that power. The girl knitted her brows, trying to figure what was happening; if anything was happening at all. She frowned, walking back towards Epona deep in her thoughts. She paused, looking back over her shoulder at the Four Sword. But her gaze went beyond the blade and to the mural in the back, at the upwards glancing eye. A shudder went up her spine, and she decided that she had to leave. Quickly.

She rode Epona back to the castle stables, leaving the hands to tend her mare while she absently found herself walking back to her room. The princess paced back and forth anxiously. What she had felt was real, she knew it… But did that mean there was something else in Hyrule giving her this feeling? No… no, she could still remember the venom laced voice that had called to her as a child when the seal was weakening… it was the same feeling. But _how_? The more she thought of it, the angrier and more confused she became. She would need to tell someone… Should she tell her father? But he was so busy these days…

A knock at her door made her do a tiny jump in surprise. Resting her hand over her heart and sighing, she called, "Come in."

A short red-headed man with beady little eyes in a hideous suit opened her door, "Princess. The mayor of Castle Town is here; he says you have a meeting with him." He said somewhat disinterestedly.

That's right… The party at Castle Town. "Thank you, Cole; tell him I'll see him in a minute." She said. But Zelda wasn't quite sure how she could talk about anything so normal as that when something very _ab_normal was devouring her mind. As the minister left to relay to her message, she'd come to the conclusion that she would have to tell someone. She'd tell Poe. She could rely on him. Her father didn't need to be bothered with such things…

* * *

Putting it out there right now: I don't do cliches, and if I do, I work very hard to make sure to write in such a way that it's amazing. So Zelda's little party that she's throwing? I'll be straight up with all ya'll... Vaats isn't going to be there.

Things to note: while this story is a direct sequel to Minish Cap, it is very, very, very loosely based on Four Swords, as such the Zelda in this story is based off of Four Swords Zelda. I didn't want this Zelda to be too reminiscent of her mother, who was the Minish Cap Zelda. Also, did I reference a certain thief who makes an appearance in Fly Away and give certain overtones that show off my second Zelda OTP? _Maybe_. Teehee. Also, I noticed that Hyrule, as a very small nation in Minish Cap, doesn't really have a proper Courtly system. MC Zelda is even referenced as having gone to school with Link for a short period of time, not to mention the fact that she was best friends with Link is saying something already. As such, I'm actually having a somewhat difficult time working this setting. I think I'm sort of managing...

So while I was working on this groundwork chapter the other day, I realized something. This story is not a story for the VaaZel fans that desire an M rated story. No... this story is a story that is being written to absolutely wreck you mentally. If this is what George RR Martin feels like all the time, then it's a pretty great feeling. Also, if anyone out there is an artist who's willing to do a lil' something something for the story, might you kindly consider contributing cover art? I got three other stories (one completed, one ongoing, the other sorely lacking a title but ready to go) that I'm working on cover art for and I find myself not really wanting to add a fourth to that list. Much as I may love sparkly Changeling pony butt as my profile avatar, it does not make for a good cover image. If anyone would look into their hearts to make one for me, it'd be much appreciated and you shall have my eternal thanks. If you're interested, PM either here or on my DeviantArt (linked on my profile) and we can talk about it.

**MidnaHytwilian**, but how do you know it's good? I'm only two chapters in! D: Also, it's not spoilers if it doesn't happen, so nope. XD And don't be sorry because I don't know who or what that is. :3

**fleets**, Ah, but one of the definitions of tragedy as taken from Merriam-Webster is "a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force (as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror." Nothing in any of that speaks about death. Anyways, doesn;t work for me either just because it doesn't make sense. He has no royal blood in him so why, oh why, would he be promoted to king upon marrying a princess. IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. Yup, though again, I need to emphasize that a part of him didn't fight back. But yeah, pretty much. And it's only going to get grimmer.

Lol, honestly, so am I. I have the general idea down, and this story is already proving to be rebellious with outlining. What's planned in my head and what I write down may end up differently! D: Also, yes, I'm aware of it and I know what I'm doing, no worries.

**Mystique Luna Tique**, Maybe not FOUR years ago... more like two or so. -shifty eyes- Nope, I hadn't forgotten. XD

**SwordspiritFi9**, well, I'm working on both! XD Thanks!

**Swamp Dragon Princess, ** you see, that's what I noticed while I studied how the British hierarchy works, and that's another reason it bothered me so. Ohoho, you'll see.


	3. Celebrations Gone Awry

First thing's first, I have a poll up on my profile. Please vote in it. It regards trigger warnings and their importance to you. I personally, don't like trigger warnings, as they take away elements of surprise from chapters. An actual book will not give you a trigger warning and... well, I do consider my fanfics actual literature, as silly as that may sound. I really feel they interfere with how the story is meant to be read. I don't like them because I feel it takes away shock value and spoils stories. And especially in a story rated M, you should expect some shocking content. However, I'm posting my fanfics up in a public internet space, and while I do write solely for myself and any story decisions I make are my own, I do care for what my readers think and I certainly don't wish to offend anyone. While I don't like trigger warnings, if you all would feel more comfortable with them, I will add them at the beginning of chapters. **Whether I add trigger warnings or not in the future chapters depends on your answers to this poll**, so please vote on it! Majority rules.

Hrrrm... Another one of those chapters that kind of said "Screw your outline. I DO WHAT I WANT." But that happened towards the end. As normal, not checked for mistakes and it's 3:30 in the god forsaken morning so give me a break, hunh? The grievous mistakes, as always, shall be fixed within the next 72 hours.

* * *

After Zelda had spoken with the Mayor and gotten arrangements for the party done, she had found Poe patrolling one of the castle walls and told him what she had experienced earlier. The guard listened intently, but seemed to have no outward reaction to her story. When she'd concluded, he remained silent, apparently thinking over his next words, the finally came out with, "That's definitely something."

She grimaced, "Oh Poe, please tell me you believe me!" She said in a hushed whisper. Technically, the guardsman was on duty; she shouldn't have been disturbing him, no matter how important she thought it was.

"I do believe you, but I'm not really sure what to say. This isn't exactly my area of expertise, Princess." The guardsman confessed with a shrug. "Why not go to your dad about this?"

"I couldn't Poe!" She exclaimed nervously, "He's already dealing with so much and… if he finds out that I went to the Shrine by myself… I'm not supposed to go unattended, he'll be furious!" She wasn't sure she was exaggerating, but she knew her father would definitely not be happy. Then again, telling him any part of the situation, even skipping over her impromptu visit to the Shrine, would have him fairly upset.

"All right, calm down," Poe said quickly to her as he noticed she seemed to be getting closer to a panic.

She took a deep breath, and after gathering herself she miserably said, "It felt like my nightmare, Poe."

Puzzled, the guardsman asked, "Nightmare? The one with Vaati?" She nodded glumly, and he responded with a somewhat insensitive sounding, "You still have those?"

She said nothing, partly because she was a bit mad at him for dismissing the nightmare so readily and partly because she was embarrassed. A seventeen year old girl still with childish nightmares. In a hushed outburst, she defended it by saying, "It always feels real so real! It starts off like when we went to the Shrine those years ago, but then I don't listen to you as you say we should leave and I… I touch the Sword and then I feel the life being crushed out of me… It's terrible…"

Poe's face twisted in thought, before he hesitantly put a hand on the worried girl's shoulder and said, "All right, didn't mean to sound like a jerk… Just, I haven't heard you saying things like since you were like… ten or something." She looked up at him, smiling a sad smile. The guardsman went on to say, "Again, I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I heard somewhere that sometimes really bad nightmares like that can affect a person when they're still awake."

While her expression became defensive again, she said nothing immediately. She'd had the nightmares for so long and they never affected her like this… but who was to say that after so long they couldn't get worse. They certainly hadn't gotten better or not as bad – they were still just as horrifying as when she'd first had them, if not worse. Was it so far-fetched to believe that the dreams worsening could actually affect her in her waking hours? "It feels so real, though…"

"I never said it wasn't real," Poe added. The girl again remained quiet, not sure what to make of the guardsman's words. But the guard, in his awkward way, tried to be reassuring, "Hey, look, don't worry too much about it. For now, focus on that party of yours; keep your mind off of it. If it ends up happening again, then keep it quiet and you tell me. We'll go investigate it together."

This had just happened once; it might have been the after effects of a nightmare… If it happened again, then she would worry. And then she would have Poe to help her figure it all out. She took a deep breath and let it out. Though her brow was furrowed in some measure of doubt, she finally nodded in agreement. "Yes; that's a good idea, Poe. Thank you."

The guardsman smiled at her. "I'm only doing my job as a servant."

* * *

A day later, an apprehensive Zelda awaited the recurrence of that repellent feeling. It never came. Three days later, she had the hope that Poe was absolutely right. When a full week had passed, she was confident that her friend was correct and it was just a cruel prank on her by her subconscious. And two weeks after the experience, with festivities fully planned, she couldn't wait for the celebration at Castle Town.

She and the mayor had met regularly and arranged for the local musicians to play, games for all ages, dancing; even her father pitched in to help, managing to convince the long feuding vegetable and fruit sellers to make peace and provide snacks for all. The Lon Lon ranchers were also coming, as well as the Gorons in the nearby caves and the last remaining members of the Wind Tribe.

She arrived at Castle Town in the afternoon to cheers and birthday wishes. Zelda happily greeted and thanked everyone that came up to her, before a daring boy from the town swooped her away for a dance. She imagined she had to have danced with everyone, from Old Man Swiftblade to his preteen grandson Swiftblade the something or other number she couldn't remember, from her old school mate Mina to a little Wind Tribe girl that liked to zig zag around with her little blue cape.

Eventually, the tables were finally all put together and everyone sat down and enjoyed meat from Lon Lon Ranch with both fruits and vegetables from the temporarily peaceful produce vendors. The sun was beginning to set, but the celebration wasn't done. Her father stood and gave a rather embarrassing speech of how much she'd grown and how proud he was of her, to which the townsfolk all clapped and laughed; the Wind Tribe went ahead and performed acrobatic feats; and the Gorons went ahead and tried to teach the townsfolk their own traditional dances; she even caught sight of Malon, the woman who owned Lon Lon Ranch, and her father speaking _very_ amiably to each other (she couldn't help but giggle at it). And as shades of blue descended in the sky, the happy residents of the town began to tire and simply huddle together and speak of the day's festivities over Chateau Romani.

Zelda found it had to have been one of the best birthday celebrations she'd ever had. The soft glow of lantern light filling the streets of Castle Town, emphasizing the already warm attitudes of the people of the town… She found herself thinking that maybe taking the throne wouldn't be so scary, not when it meant she had such a strong support group in the whole of the small kingdom.

She always had some sort of crowd around her it seemed, making it awkward when she declared she needed a moment alone for the "facilities." It was certainly enough to let her go freely, and much as she enjoyed all the company around her, she was rather glad that she was going to manage to get some alone time just for a few minutes. As she had begun to make her way back to the town square, she spotted a familiar face.

"Mr. Gibdo? You're still working!? You've been here since the celebration first started!" She exclaimed in shock.

Upon hearing the princess's words and seeming rather surprised that she paid any attention at all to him, he simply gave her a smile that reflected his tired looking visage. "It's all in the job, Princess. We're all on high alert, right now."

She frowned, though she didn't push it. The girl imagined it had something to do with whatever it was her father had been trying to hide from her. _I'll have to ask him about that tomorrow_, she reminded herself. "It's still rather unfair. I hope you're all getting paid extra for this at the very least." She said firmly.

The elder guardsman chuckled, but apparently had no real response to it. The silence that followed was a bit strange to Zelda because of that. She was on such friendly terms with this man's brother yet she could a barely hold a conversation with him. Perhaps sensing the discomfort, he managed to say, "Sorry, Princess."

Confused, she asked, "Huh? Whatever for?"

"That you always have to catch Poe and me fighting. I imagine it isn't a pleasant thing to watch; and I certainly think it's very inappropriate to air out our problems in front of you like we always do." Gibdo said with a mixture of awkwardness and genuine apology.

She certainly hadn't expected anything like this; then again, to be fair, she didn't know what to expect from Gibdo since she didn't know him so well. Zelda gave him a small smile, "Apology accepted… but you know Poe really doesn't flirt with me."

The older guardsman seemed a bit embarrassed, but nodded and conceded, "I know, Princess, and I'm sorry those words ended up coming from my mouth… Truthfully, I just never know what my little brother is up to anymore. You probably know him the best out of anyone in the kingdom, honestly…" She took note of how sad he sounded as he said it. The princess couldn't help but feel sorry for the elder brother at that time. She knew he meant well for Poe, even though Poe himself didn't seem to care. It was… unfair, she supposed. But she wasn't one to judge, she supposed, as she had no siblings.

Before she could come up with a response, a young man turned the corner and brightly called out to her, "There you are, Princess! The last dance of the night before everyone goes home is going to start!"

"Oh, I'll be right there!" She called out before looking back to Gibdo and apologetically saying, "I'm sorry, Mr. Gibdo, I have to go… But I would like to talk to you again when you and Poe aren't fighting."

And then she rushed off, the boy nervously asking her then if she would perhaps have the final dance with him, before another boy came about and told the princess to forget about that boy and dance with him. She laughed, proclaiming she'd dance with them both, and Gibdo couldn't help but smile as the cheery princess's voice faded. She really was a lovely girl, if not a bit fiery. He was glad his brother had a friend in her…

At the town square, Zelda happily took the hands of the boys who'd wished to dance with her and spun happily with them to the last lively song the local band played. The Prince-Regent rose for a minute, the look in his eyes saying he didn't much like those town boys even touching his daughter; but the mistress of Lon Lon Ranch grabbed the man by the shoulder and forced him to sit back down while giving him a reproving look.

As Zelda laughed and spun with her two dance partners, more people decided to join in, mostly those of the princess's age. Her last night of freedom, dancing and having fun with those of her own age in a completely carefree way. Nothing could ruin the moment for her.

Except for a stabbing, nauseating mental assault of wrongness.

It was more painful than before; the throbbing so strong in her mind that her vision whited out and she staggered backwards, tripping over the hem of her dress and letting out a shout fueled with fear and disgust. Everything was so bright and she couldn't see – what had happened? What had she been doing? She felt something grab at her shoulders, and in a panic squealed and tried to bat the hands off of her. But colors and shapes began to hazily return, and she recognized the green of her father's tunic. While her hands still tried to fight him off, he did relax. She could hear so many voices, but they all sounded melded and foreign, blurring together in a dull roar of incomprehensible nonsense. The round beneath her seemed to vanish, and then she realized that she was being carried.

The world eventually stopped spinning, but there was still the nagging sense of wrongness lulling her senses. As her father carried her, she could only manage to somewhat focus on his face, sunken with worry and hair looking greyer in the pale light of the moon. When did her father get so old? Raspy words eventually crawled from her lips, "Daddy… what happened…?"

"You would have to tell me, Ione…" The words came out in frustrated worry, "But not now. We're going home now."

"B... but what about-"

"Cole is taking care of crowd control; don't worry about it," Link responded quickly, a tremble in his voice.

The princess wanted to say more, but her mind jumbled again and the words would not form. In her clearest thoughts, she had known what occurred; but even with that knowledge she couldn't remember what she had told herself she would do if it ever happened again.

Mentally drifting in and out, she hadn't become aware of her surroundings up until her father had laid her down somewhere, saying he'd be right back and was getting the physician. Moments later, after her father was gone, she managed to take in enough to recognize she was in her room and on her bed. She attempted to sit up, but she felt so heavy that she gave up easily. But with her head slightly propped up a bit on her twin layers of pillows, the princess had a view of the garden doors that led to her small balcony. She saw something small and black fluttering onto the balustrade, as if watching her.

For some reason, the bat was disturbing her.

But with the throbbing in her head, she knocked the thought aside and tried to focus on perhaps drifting off. She managed it, only to be woken when her father brought in the doctor, an old man that looked far too thin to make anyone comfortable with him as a doctor. However, she wasn't in the right mind to be thinking about that, and she simply answered the doctor's questions and acquiesced to his requests as best she could. The doctor eventually nodded, then said to Link, "She seems to be in a state of shock; her mind's numb and she can't think all that clearly, but physically, she seems to be fine. Whatever came upon her seems to have worn off rather quickly."

"But what happened?!" Asked a frustrated Link who was having a hard time keeping his voice down.

"I'm afraid I can't say," she heard the doctor say hesitantly. "Her color and temperature are fine; I rather doubt its anything related to sickness or allergy. She's clammy, but after what she seems to have experienced, I don't blame her… It could be something…" The doctor's voice hushed for a moment. Her father didn't respond, but the doctor would continue on in his normal tone, "It's been said the Royal Ladies are much attuned to supernatural phenomena. I wouldn't be surprised if something negative took her off guard during such a positive occasion… If not that, the only thing I can think of is perhaps some sort of mental stress. All I can recommend…"

And the doctor's words faded into mumbles as she began to drift off, the vision of the doctor and her father conversing blurring into some weird splotch, as if a painter was half completed with his work. All she could catch the gist of was that she was to be kept an eye on…

Eye.

All she could see now was the upwards gazing eye in the Four Sword Shrine. And that was how a new nightmare began. No longer was she a little child because crushed by a great demon, she was as she was at that very moment in time. She was standing in front of the Four Sword, her focus torn between the Sword and the mural in the back. Nothing was happening. And that nothing was frightening her more than the dream of being swept up and squeezed ever dead. Here, she was simply left with dread anticipation, knowing the beast in the blade was fighting to get out constantly.

She could feel its power tickling at her senses in the dream, occasionally sending another surge of pain through her mind as soon as she thought nothing really was happening. It was a horrible dream about the battle of wills, hers versus the wind demon… And as the nightmare kept going, she felt her resolve fading. The tickling at her senses now became almost a series shoves; she backed away from the blade, almost cringing. She felt… so helpless. There was nothing she could do; her magic wasn't as trained as her mother's, and her father, Gibdo, Poe, or the other guards weren't around to protect her…

And that's when the beast would burst from the Sword.

Zelda shot up, a wail half caught in throat. She was delirious, unsure of where she was and what was going on; she wildly looked around her room, seeing things that should have been so familiar but now looked so foreign. But when her eyes landed on her balcony and she saw the bat on the balustrade, a fury she couldn't describe came over her. The princess wildly threw herself from her bed, grabbed a vase of flowers resting on a cabinet, thrust the garden doors open and threw he vase at the horrid little creature. It flew off without so much of a sound before the vase even came close to it, and all the girl could do as tears sprung to her eyes was wildly try to catch sight of it in the darkness. But she lost it, and the horror of her recent nightmare hit her full force and sent her to her knees, sobbing.

Everything came back to her then. She remembered the party, how all was so fine… and then the terrible pain. Her crying stopped, and while she still shivered with the effects of a heavy, dirty weep, she couldn't help but wonder if her most recent nightmare had anything to do with this pain. Perhaps there really was something wrong with the Four Sword… Her stomach knotted up, knowing that it was her job to make sure the seal was strong. She must have missed something before…

The nightmare revisited her for a moment, giving her the prospect of her losing her battle of wills with Vaati. But she pursed her lips and furrowed her brow, her inner fire rekindling. She would not lose. She could not lose.

_I need to find Poe._ She thought, remembering the agreement she and her friend had come to.

She had grabbed a cloak and quietly opened her door. The lanterns were out in the halls, telling her it was fairly late at night. She had to be careful, though; if anyone caught the sight of her, they'd alert her father for sure after what had happened a few hours ago. She could not be rushed back to bed right now.

Zelda didn't have to look far as she carefully treaded the hall. Right at the end she found her guardsman friend slumped over against the wall and snoring softly. _Such a lazy excuse for a guardsman!_ She thought with some irritation, trying to ignore thoughts that he'd essentially been working nonstop for nearly and couldn't really blame him for dozing off. She knelt down and shook him quickly, whispering, "Poe, wake up!"

It then occurred to her that perhaps waking up a dozing guardsman in such a manner was not a good idea. Before she could quite figure out what had happened, the guard's hand was clamped over her mouth and the blade of a knife pressed against her neck. There was a ferocity in the guard's eyes that she'd never seen that frightened her. But upon recognizing who it was he had threatened so quickly, his expression became one of panic as he quickly placed the knife back in his boot. "I am _so sorry_," he wheezed in fear. With a stifled squeal he whispered hoarsely, "Goddesses he's going to _kill_ me – and I'll deserve it too!"

But she quickly shushed him and said gently, "Don't worry, Poe, my father won't find out, and it was my fault for-"

"No, no, no not-" But Poe paused in his frustration, looked at the girl and calmed down, saying, "Ah, never mind, Princess… But you're all right, right?"

"Yes, Poe… I mean, no, but not because of that." She said in a hasty whisper. She continued quickly afterward, not giving him a chance to respond, "Earlier today when I… when I fainted… Do you remember what we spoke of a while ago? It… it happened again. It's why I fainted."

The guardsman's expression went stoic. "The seal?"

She nodded, "I want to go there…"

"Now?"

She nodded, "Yes, now. It has to be now, it can't wait! The pain was so excruciating, something _has_ to be wrong Poe." She said desperately. He stood up quickly, offering the princess his hand. She smiled at him gratefully and took the hand. "Thank you…"

"Let's go, Princess."

And go they did. Zelda had saddled Epona herself, and even took the time to saddle a separate horse for Poe. The man could ride, she knew, though not very well and he certainly didn't know how to saddle a horse. But as she rode off on Epona, she paid no attention to how well the guardsman was following her. Her one track mind was in place and it was telling her the Shrine awaited. There would be no more crying and cowering – she was going to _end_ this. So focused was she on getting to her destination, she did not notice the lagging guard behind him or the bat that flew alongside him. She certainly wasn't hearing him having a furtive conversation with it either.

As before, Epona froze at the stone floor of the Shrine. Zelda did not push the mare forward, but simply dismounted and impatiently waited for Poe to stumble in with his horse. As soon as she saw him, she started forward to the Shrine. She tried not to note how reminiscent the situation was to the last time she was there in that nothing felt out of the ordinary. But she did stop for a moment and stare up at the open sky, her brows furrowing in concern at the sight of bats circling around the area. It was the first sign of life she'd seen in this place… And she wasn't sure she liked seeing bats.

_I don't think I like them anymore…_ She thought to herself. Bats seemed to be all too common around her bad situations, it seemed. But she shook herself out of the unsettling thought, telling herself again that bats were just bats. She took a breath and walked forward to the Sword, glad the starlight didn't offer enough light to view the mural in the back. Extending her magical senses to the Sword, she was prepared to deal with a glaring crack or full on breakage within the seal.

But as before, there was nothing. She stepped back in horror, staring at the Sword in disbelief. Seeing her quick motion, she heard Poe asked from behind, "What is it, Princess?"

She didn't answer right away. What could she say? That it looked like she was going crazy? That she was getting these surges of wrongness through her mind that drove her into fainting spells because of some ridiculos fear she'd had since she was a child. Again, she stared at the blade. There had to be something. There just had to be something! Maybe not on the the actual magical seal but…

And then she noticed… something dark on the blade. It wasn't obvious. It was just a slight stain on the edge of the blade… Zelda cautiously stepped forward, ignoring Poe asking again if everything was all right. She was sure of it, there was something on the sword. She extended her hand to it, tying to forget her old nightmare, where her touch released the beast… In the dream, it had been because she wanted to release the beast. In theory, it shouldn't work now. Her intention was to seal… to figure out what was wrong and fix it.

Her index finger hovered nervously over the stain before quickly sliding it down the stain and pulling it back. It was liquid, she could tell. Her finger slid on it so easily. But in the darkness, she could not tell what it was. It was colored… dark. And that alone sent a shudder up her spine. A liquid on the blade of a sword… She certainly was glad she wasn't squeamish… But this was the Four Sword. It hadn't been removed from the pedestal in thirty years. Why would there be blood on it?

Had a bat gotten too close perhaps…?

But she couldn't justify it. The bats overhead flew normally, and if this probable bat died from its wound, where was the body? And the more she looked at the stain on her finger, the surer she became that it was blood…

Did this mean something?

That was a stupid question. Of course it did. Blood didn't just end up on static objects by itself.

The most concerning possibility that she'd tried to avoid thinking about came to the forefront of her mind, then. The blood could have been left on purpose. It didn't feel warm or fresh, but it was still wet. It could have been cleaned easily, there was certainly time. Surely whoever had left it there would have cleaned it up after all. And why would anyone do such a thing? Were they trying to release Vaati with some sort of blood sacrifice or something of the like? If it were possible, she might have thought it concerning. Only she or her father could release him; that was just the way it was… Though she'd like to know how those specifics were found out, now that she thought of it.

Regardless, the biggest question in her mind was who could have left the blood behind? Was it human? Non-human? Did this even relate to the pain she'd felt earlier in the night? _It has to_, she thought. She simply couldn't think why those surges of pain had never occurred before.

"Princess?" Poe's voice finally came into her hearing. He sounded very anxious.

"Oh… I'm sorry, Poe…" She apologized, turning and making her way back to the guardsman and the horses. Nothing was wrong with the seal. There was only the question of the blood and what it might have possibly meant. She could leave for the time being, to think further on this.

"Are you sure? Did something happen?" He asked her as she mounted Epona.

Zelda considered for a moment to tell him what she had encountered, but decided against it. Poe may have been her best friend, but he was also still in her father's charge just as much as he was in hers. She wanted to be sure of anything she had found out before reporting to her father, and she'd ate it if Poe were put into a corner and forced to speak. It was better he didn't know for the time being, much as the thought pained her. "Don't worry, Poe," she said in false cheer, "Everything is fine." It was a lousy lie; even she knew it, but her friend did not push it.

They rode back, silently and in much less of a rush than they had been previously. The princess was so consumed in her own thoughts, that when they had returned to the stable, she dismounted the horse, gave Poe a thanks for escorting her in the middle of the night, and headed back to the castle without unsaddling Epona leaving Poe and his own steed behind. A smirk came upon Poe's face as he sloppily unsaddled his own horse and lead it back to its stable. He looked at Epona, and the wild mare snorted unhappily at him.

"You want me to take that off of you?" He asked the mare, who whinnied indignanatly. Whether it knew his words or not, he didn't really care. "No can do, Bessie; you're staying just like that until morning." Poe said with malicious cheer as he exited the stable. Nope. As far as everyone else knew, it was only Epona that had been taken out for the night. What a rogue, wild princess Zelda was, after all.

Even though the princess, at that moment, was not feeling her fiery self at all. She was more confused than before, and not sure what to make of the blood she'd found on the Four Sword. She carefully wound her way through the halls to avoid the sight of any guard on patrol, trying not to think about the blood that had been on her finger but had now since been wiped away. Yet she could still feel the remnants of it tickling the tip of her finger. Who or what did it belong to…? Even as she reached her door, the thought was prominent in her mind. She simply could not make sense of everything that was happening. Surely it had to be connected…?

She needed sleep. A proper sleep, Zelda decided. Stripping down and then putting on her nightclothes, the princess told herself she would do her best not to think of frightening things or anything that might keep her up for what was left of the night. Perhaps she would begin a book, something cheerful? That seemed like the best option. She had begun to make her way to her bookshelf when she caught sight of something on her balcony through the garden doors.

Last time she looked through the doors, she had seen a bat. But there was no bat there. No… now, where the bat had been, there was something else. Curious, she opened up the garden doors and reached the balustrade.

It was a book. One she'd never seen before. How it got there, she had no idea. She had locked her garden doors before she had left; she'd hated the idea of leaving her room open to bats, even if they didn't have the opposable thumbs to open it. And her room was up on the high floors of the castle. No one could enter form the outside… For a moment, she panicked, wondering if perhaps someone had come in while she was gone and left it. But if that was the case, why leave it outside or not report the missing princess?

More confusion to add to an already puzzling night… Yet her fingers caressed the front cover of the book, leather that had been softened with age. She picked up the book, looking at the blank spine and wondering perhaps if this was some book of old magic. She flipped open the soft cover, and then skimmed through the passages in the book… only to see it wasn't a book of magic. It was a story book; a narrative of some sort. And honestly, the girl wasn't sure if that made this more or less nonsensical. Turning the pages back, she finally rested on the title page.

"_Eros and Psyche_." She read aloud in a soft mumble. She'd never heard those names before. They definitely weren't Hylian. She touched the names, as if it would somehow help her understand these non-native names, yet as she did so, she noticed that something felt as if it was wedged between the pages. She flipped over to the next page and then discovered that something was, in fact, wedged in between the pages. A small note card. She took the card, noting the unfamiliar handwriting on it. It wasn't any special, as far as handwriting went. It wasn't the childish scrawl of her father's or the flowery, loopy lines of Minister Cole. It was legible and short. Only saying, "Happy Birthday, Princess Zelda." There was no name. She turned the card around in hopes that she might find one, but was left just as bewildered as before.

She closed the book and turned it around in her hands, then flipped through the pages again. Even probing at it with her magic told her nothing was out of the ordinary; just leather, ink, and paper. Its placement was undoubtedly a mystery, though she supposed the book could have been there before and she'd simply mistaken where she'd found it to be the same place she'd seen a bat. Perhaps a gift from a maid too shy to hand it to her herself? And she had been looking for a book to take her mind off of things…

_No harm in it_, she thought. _There's nothing malicious here. Just a book._ And with those thoughts deciding the fate of the book in her hands, she headed back into her room, closing and locking the garden doors behind her before she lay down in her bed, and opened the book up to its first page.

* * *

Now to random author ramblings: Does anyone recall a certain movie in which the slogan was "No harm ever came from reading a book?" And then horrible things proceeded to happen? Ohohoho. Yeah. Anyways, Eros and Psyche is probably one of the few Greek myths I actually care for (I normally don't care for Greek mythology at all). For those familiar with the myth, this story will obviously not follow the myth. Quite simply, it _can't_. For those unfamiliar with it... Google's a thing. Use it. There's a fairly decent sized Wikipedia article on it too. But the story will have some parallels to it, obviously, else it wouldn't be mentioned within the story!

Anyways, despite the fact that I said Fly Away and its parallel (it'll come out soon, I swear) are my main focus atm, I'm really feeling this story in particular. While I shall keep up with attempting to update FA once a month, I have a feeling this may get updated more often simply because the faster pace of it shall get me to try some new things that will actually help me in the future of FA.

**fleets**, yup. If he ended up being in this story, it might not end up in VaaZel! I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. XD Believe it or not, I never considered him ginger until recently when I discovered I actually color his hair a light brown/red. I'm certainly slow on the uptake of my own characters! XD Nonetheless, I have no issues with this since I fucking love gingers and in fact wish to join their ranks. WHY CAN'T I NATURALLY BE A PART OF THAT 2%?! BAAAW... Erm, anyways... Hmmm, well, you know I like to be cryptic, so I shan't be saying whether you're right or wrong. And thanks! I was worried about how I handled that. I KNOW THAT FEEL. As for when she meets him again... I want to say soon, but I honestly don't know. Much like Reversal, I'm creating this one as I go with the vaguest general idea of where I'm going. I'm putting more effort into this one, though, it's just really difficult to think of this whole story in the long run because I'm handling a lot of new things in this one too...

**Swamp Dragon Princess**, ayup, that he sure is. And since you have a good idea of how I personify him, I'm sure you've also noticed he's showing this surprising degree of patience. AM I TRYING TO VERY VAGUELY POINT SOMETHING OUT HERE. I DUNNO. There's only so much I can keep contained on the inside. Sort of. She doesn't think the whole thing is a dream. She believes the point up to where Poe stopped her from releasing Vaati was real and that she actually left with Poe, and the events that he made up followed. While she doesn't remember those, she believes she was unconscious when it happened. Where she actually frees Vaati, she believes it was a dream that she had, perhaps first occurring during the fake events Poe fed to her. And Poe has certainly assured her that it never actually happened either. Lol, and yes, remember Blind was not born Blind. In any incarnation where he is a law abiding citizen, he is Kasuto. Technically, Kasuto, Jr, but he's not about to have friends call him Junior. That sounds stupid. Even his dad doesn't call him Junior, he calls him Kas. XD Ione funnily enough, has three proper pronunciations; the first is yours, Aye-own. The second is aye-O-nee, and I actually use this pronunciation. Third is AYE-o-nee. I remember I wanted her secondary name to have some sort of mythical connotation, so I pretty much just looked up whatever and came up with Ione, which is the name of some water nymph from some myth I don't care about. I just chose it because it seemed Gaelic enough to fit in with a Western Medieval society despite it being Greek. Hurr hurr, imnotverycleverwithnames.

**triforceofawsm **, eek, sorry for writing this one up late! I'm so glad you like it so far! Hopefully, I can keep you reeled in! XD And since we already discussed that earlier, I'm just not going to repeat myself. XD

And with that, I shall see you all next update, whenever that is.


	4. Irritations

My poll results are dead even. I will be giving this a couple of more chapters before I announce my verdict on whether or not this story will have trigger warnings. Again, my personal view, the story is rated M and features the relationship of a heroine and a villain. Do I really need to warn you about the darkness of this story?

One more thing before we begin... _Reversal. _My most popular story. _Reversal_ book, anyone? A book for a fanfic, you may ask? Is that even possible? Oh yes. And it is going to happen. If you are interested, more info will be down below.

As always, grievous mistakes will be weeded out within the next few days, no need to point them out. I'll find them. ... I really need to label these chapters too. :/

* * *

"Epona was saddled?" Link asked.

"Yessir," the stableboy nodded, "She was pretty spooked too. Dunno what happened…"

The prince-regent's brow was furrowed. "Did you see Ione at all?"

"No, sir. Only thing that says she was here was the horse; only you or her can manage her, and her hooves are all scuffed – she was out last night." The stableboy reiterated.

Link glanced over at the stall, where the mare he'd gifted to his daughter seemed to be sleeping off her ordeal from her unexpected ride the night before. Ione had snuck out of the castle during the night… He might have asked why, but he recalled the physician's words.

"_It could be something regarding the Seal… Her mother would often suffer headaches when the Seal weakened, and the history of the royal family is littered with prophecies from the Royal Ladies. It's been said the Royal Ladies are much attuned to supernatural phenomena._"

So had Zelda gone to the Shrine by herself during the middle of night? Why hadn't she told him? Why hadn't she told anyone else?

"Thank you for telling me, Fado. Enjoy a few extra jelly tarts on me if you pass by the kitchens." He told the boy, who smiled broadly at him and gave him a thank you. He'd run off to the kitchens before the Prince-Regent could ask if the boy might know where Ione was at that moment, but Link shrugged it off, knowing he could ask anyone where the princess might have been.

Reentering the castle to see if she might have still been in her rooms, he found them deserted. He then asked a nearby maid, and she responded with, "Your daughter, ser… I think I saw her earlier carrying your bow; she's most likely to be at the archery range with that, right, ser?"

He couldn't remember the last time she'd taken his bow. He remembered her seeing it one day and picking it up, excitedly asking him to teach her. And he did, and she had a knack for it – a much better instinct with her aim than he ever had, he was sure. But she always was a bit flighty in her hobbies, and soon after she'd taken up something else and left the bow. With the drama from the night before and the doctor's explanation, hearing that she'd taken his bow again didn't make him feel any better.

Link made his way out of the castle grounds and towards the archery range for the guards. It was easy to catch sight of Ione, since she was the only one in a dress as well with a long, flowing ponytail of strawberry blond hair. No one paid much mind to him as he approached, and he was even able to witness a younger guardsman trying to impress Ione, only for her to show him up and send him off embarrassed. He almost puffed his chest out in pride, but as he walked up next to her, he could tell from her concentrated expression as she nocked an arrow that she was not in the best of moods. Link was fairly certain she was aware of him too, but she hadn't greeted him or acknowledged him in the slightest.

After she loosed an arrow, which would hit the center of the target perfectly, he asked, "How are you feeling today, Ione?"

She had been aiming her arrow, and for a moment, she looked like a statue. But after a moment, she lowered the bow and drew the arrow out. She did not face her father, but still kept her eyes on the target yards away. "I've been better." Ione finally said stoically. And then she raised the bow again, drew back the arrow, and set it loose. It hit the center of the next, further away target.

"Perhaps it's because you went riding in the middle of the night after you had a fainting spell." He said it as gently and accusatory as he possibly could. Ione froze as she was drawing out her next arrow. She had not expected this conversation, apparently. "Where did you go last night?"

She looked at him, her cerulean eyes wide and anxious. "I… I didn't go anywhere. I just rode… to clear my mind." Her voice was shaky, but she did not fidget as she spoke. It was hard to tell whether or not it was a lie, as he definitely knew she had been unprepared to approach this subject. And she was. She'd completely forgotten to unsaddle the mare, and if she didn't do it, then no one but the stable hands could do it since Epona wouldn't let Poe get near her.

"It didn't work very well if you forgot to unsaddle Epona." He pointed out.

She blushed. "No… it didn't…" She mumbled, quickly refocusing on aiming her next shot.

"Did you go to the Four Sword Shrine last night?"

Her arrow ended up veering to the upper left on the next target. "I didn't go anywhere." Her voice didn't shake, but she was clearly upset.

"The physician said that you might have been suffering effects from the seal possibly weakening…" He began. "If that's true, I have no problem with you visiting the Shrine, but during the day and you must have an-"

"An escort, I know!" She snapped, turning on her heel to face him angrily. "It's unsafe to go alone, I've heard it all before! I did not go to the Shrine last night!"

Link stepped back, not having expected the outburst. Unsure of what to make of it, he regained his composure. "All right, Ione, calm down. I believe you… But something is the matter. What is it?"

Her nostrils flared out angrily, but her face did soften leaving only a disgruntled pout upon her lips. She looked away, and said quietly, "It's just the bad dreams, Daddy."

He frowned. "You still have those?"

She kept in a humorless laugh, remembering how Poe had asked her the same thing two weeks before. "Just last night. I'm fine." She answered plainly, taking the bow up again and nocking an arrow.

Her father did not know what to make of this. "Perhaps tomorrow we should visit the Shrine and make sure the seal is in check?" He suggested.

The arrow loosed, hitting another target dead center. "Fine." The princess answered coldly.

Truthfully, Link wasn't at all used to her chilly voice. He'd only been on the end of it very few times. He wondered what had happened last night that had made her this distressed. Surely it couldn't have been just her nightmare? They were terrible, yes, but when she was younger she would always perk right up during the day. _She's not an easily distracted child anymore, though_, he reminded himself. "Ione… You know you can trust me if anything is the matter, right?"

She glanced at him from the side, and for the first time in their conversation, a small smile graced her lips. "Of course, Daddy."

He hadn't noticed how tense he had been until she responded positively. Somehow, he'd been thinking that his daughter didn't trust him. "Good," he said with some measure of relief.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

She faced him completely now, putting the bow aside and brushing off of her skirts. "You have a meeting with the Wind Tribe later today, correct?"

"Yes. What of it, Ione?"

"I'd like to attend." She said matter of factly.

He blinked, "Really?" His wild, fiery child, actually wanted to sit in on the annual report from the Wind Tribe? She nodded, and he could only give her a warning, "It's terribly boring."

"I would like to attend," she repeated, the chill coming back into her voice.

"If you insist," he surrendered.

* * *

Zelda found, as she lay back on her bed and stared at the ceiling, that lying was becoming far too easy. She hadn't gone to the Shrine the night before; she had only had the nightmare last night… That was two lies. And she had counted keeping the secret of her headaches and their connection to the Four Sword as one big lie. That was three lies. It didn't seem like that many, but these weren't exactly "white" lies. She wasn't telling her father that the color of his new vest was lovely when it was really atrocious. This was serious. And she was keeping these big secrets that she should have been telling her father.

Blood on the Four Sword… that was rather important, wasn't it?

Yet she didn't have any proof it was from anything malicious or that it meant anything at all. She was keeping secrets because she didn't know anything for sure, she justified to herself. Until she was sure, she just couldn't say anything. And going to that meeting with the Wind Tribe would only be her proof to show her that her father had enough to worry about. … Right?

_Tomorrow I'm visiting the Shrine with Daddy. That will clear things up. _She told herself. She'd been stupid in going to the Shrine alone… Even though she did remind herself that the night before, she wasn't alone. She had Poe. But Poe wasn't her father, no. There was something her father that would make the experience different. There had to be.

With a sigh, Zelda rose and walked to her bookshelf and took out _Eros and Psyche_ again. The volume was slim, so she had finished it the night before. It had also successfully lulled her into a dreamless sleep, which she was grateful for. She found she actually liked the story itself too, despite its shortness. Still, the names in the book were odd. Eros, Psyche, Aphrodite… The book didn't even have any mention of authorship or any indications as to a nationality; not even the name of the person who printed it. She wondered if perhaps the Wind Tribe knew anything of such names or the origins of the story itself.

Since she had come to her room with an hour until the meeting, she thought that it may near be time to start heading down. After she put the book back on the space she'd made it for it on the shelf, she left her room. Having been moody that morning, a lot of the servants that she passed were surprised at her hellos, but she simply pretended nothing was the matter. Finding her way easily to the room where she knew her father usually had the meetings. It was a smaller room with a table big enough to seat six and a window that let in the sunlight, with the walls featuring happy paintings of content Hylians in the landscapes. She invited herself in the room to see the two Wind Tribe members, Gale and Flurris, already waiting.

She smiled at the two elderly women, who smiled back at her with their crooked smiles.

"Look at you," Fluriss, the heavier set white haired woman said, "Looking much better than you did the last night, I must say!"

Gale, the thinner of the two that still had some apple red streaks in her graying hair, gave her a look of concern, "Are you feeling all right, dear. Your father said you wanted to sit in on this, but you really don't have to if you're not up to it. It's rather uneventful."

Zelda playfully rolled her eyes and sat down across from them, "I need to get used to uneventful then! It won't be long before I have to sit though these without my father, you know." She told them.

"That's certainly true enough; I remember back when you were just a dirty little rugrat causing mayhem wherever you went!" Flurris said with a bark of laughter.

"Some might say I still cause mayhem where I go," Zelda joked.

Both Wind Tribe women laughed at that as Zelda smiled brightly. It was only a moment later that the Prince-Regent would come in to the chuckle-fest and say, "Well, I certainly feel left out."

"Your young lady here certainly is magnetic, Link," Gale praised, earning a beam from the princess.

The man looked as if his feathers had been preened, "She _is_ my daughter," he said with mock smugness. But he let out a sigh and said with some regret, "Unfortunately, we have to get to the reports first."

"Yes, yes, pleasantries later," Flurris huffed as Link sat down by his daughter. The heavyset woman looked to her thinner companion, "Where do we start, Gale?"

"I think we may as well start with the biggest bit of news the wind has carried for us," the younger Wind Tribe woman said; Flurris nodded in agreement, and Gale continued, "It seems whatever drama Labrynna has been going through has wrapped up. All construction on that ostentatious tower has ceased, though I don't know what they'll possibly do with all of that now." Zelda frowned at this news. She honestly didn't know much about Labrynna; she certainly didn't know that a tower of any sort was being constructed. But the Wind Tribe women didn't seem to pay any mind to her puzzled face.

Flurris continued on, "Whatever they plan to do with it, though, that Queen of theirs is apparently intent on making things right. Rumor has it that she's considering opening up relations with neighboring countries – which means Hyrule's an option since you all share a mountain range and an inland sea."

Link dwelled on that for a moment, and deciding it was a good thing, he nodded and with a smile said, "That's definitely good news. Trading with Holodrum is all well and good, but they're an ocean away." He looked to his daughter for a moment and added for her benefit, "We can only receive luxury items from Holodrum, due to their distance. Perhaps some grain, but on the sea, there's always the chance of molding and rats. Labrynna and Hyrule share a rather docile mountain pass, surprisingly easy to traverse, making it easier to trade perishable goods."

She nodded, even though she was honestly more interested in this talk about the Queen and a tower.

"You'll probably be receiving a letter soon, no doubt." Gale said before moving on, "Next… well, nothing really of interest. There does seem to more monster activity from Mt. Crenel, but it is that time of year where they get more ornery than usual… And the Palace of Winds has drifted completely from us; our winds can't access it anymore."

Zelda could not contain her alarm at that, "Will the Palace be able to maintain itself?"

Gale and Flurris looked at the girl in surprise, and the older answered, "Of course it should; it's been maintaining itself for years. The magic on it is ancient and self-sustaining. Why, the only person to have stepped on that Palace in the past century is your father. Only monsters dwell there now." The woman muttered beneath her breath as an aside to herself, "Though I'd like to know how they possibly could have gotten up there…"

"Whatever the case," Gale continued, "That's really all the news we have to report. Everything else has been rather calm."

And the rest of the meeting was really an exchange of pleasantries. Gale and Flurris had funny takes on her father's adventures as a child, all the while Link would weakly try to make these stories not seem quite as funny. It had the habit of backfiring and making for more amusing stories. But as the afternoon grew later, the two Wind Tribe women had to leave and Link was eventually called away by Captain Viscen to discuss some issue or another. It was at this time that Zelda had held the Wind Tribe women back asked them if they perhaps knew anything of the book she had picked up.

"_Eros and Psyche_..." Gale murmured, "Yes, I have heard of that story. It's an old myth, though for the life of me I can't remember from where."

"Eh, yes…" Flurris agreed, "Old Gregal, rest his soul, picked up so many books when he traveled the world. A lot of them were left behind in the Palace; he'd made a list of all the ones he'd like to go back for. That was on the list, wasn't it, Gale?"

"Huh… I do believe you're right…"

"But you have no idea where it was from?" Zelda asked disappointedly.

The women gave her a sympathetic look and Flurris said, "Sorry, Princess. The only one who'd know where they came from would be Old Gregal but… well, you know he's not with us anymore."

Zelda thanked them and then let them be on their way, barely registering their conversation as they left about how sad a situation it was that they couldn't go back for Gregal's books. But all the princess could think of was the oddness that such a rare story would end up in her hands. A part of her was even silly enough to think she might just have the late Gregal's copy of the book! But the Wind Tribe women said it themselves, the Palace was beyond their control. And even if it was, how the book ended up in her room would be made more confusing yet. No, it definitely wasn't Gregal's copy.

She didn't dwell on it too much. Strange as it was, it was still a harmless book. Instead she let her mind wander to the possibility of an envoy from Labrynna. She would have to ask her father for more information on the country. The only reason she knew they shared borders on the mountains was because that young man she liked, Kasuto, and his father had been sent off there. Thinking on it now, she realized that whatever was going on had her father concerned there. That tower certainly was mysterious! It was just another she would have to ask her father, and she certainly hoped she could be a part of the meeting with a possible visiting envoy from there.

But her mind quickly wandered to the more immediate matter of the planned events for tomorrow. It seemed no matter what she tried to think of, her mind returned to the Shrine and its oddities. Again, she had reminded herself that she wouldn't be alone, so she shouldn't be so apprehensive. But the more she reminded herself of that fact, the more anxious she got. Zelda couldn't help but recall when she'd first told Poe of it and how it seemed that he didn't believe her at first. What was it he had said? That sometimes bad nightmares effected people in their waking hours? It felt real… but how was she to know that it really was? It wasn't as if she could find anyone who had these same nightmares and ask them to compare notes with her.

So flustered were these trains of thoughts, she had taken to the archery range again. There was something calming about it, holding the bow and drawing back an arrow, feeling the arm's strain to keep it all balanced before letting all the built up power release. It was almost like she was launching her troubles away to be buried within the targets so far away. The only thing that ruined it for her was that one soldier who was trying to get friendly with her.

"Um, hello, Princess," he would say nervously as he approached her. "So, you uh, use the bow? How long have you been using it?"

"Since I was nine," she would respond flatly, hoping an attitude might drive him away.

But it didn't. "Oh, since you were nine? That explains why you're so good at it. I can barely shoot myself."

"Practice makes perfect." She responded haughtily.

He was again undeterred. "Yeah, that's… that's true I suppose. Still, maybe perhaps… Perhaps you could give me lessons?"

Honestly, Zelda had no problems with men trying to get her attention, but she had problems with men who had such weak attitudes about being direct about it. This soldier, one Shiro Carwyn, she knew was a flighty sort of fellow who didn't grab much attention from anyone. Poe complained about him a lot, since he always had to take over so many of Shiro's shifts. Shiro was rather sickly, partly why he didn't grab much attention – he was never around. It was also why his training wasn't up to snuff with any of the other soldiers. Still, if Shiro really did want to learn the bow, then go to the Master Archer. It wasn't exactly something anyone would ask the princess. Despite that, she supposed there was a sort of charm to it; that he was asking a woman for help.

She was still annoyed, though. The other man earlier in the day had been hoping to teach her how to shoot, and now this one was asking her to teach him. Why couldn't they just let her shoot in peace? Perhaps if Shiro had asked at any other time, she would have humored the idea of it. But right now, "I'm sorry; I'm afraid I don't have much time to teach anyone. Princess duties, you know," she said halfway between apologetic and "please leave me alone." And then he seemed to get the hint. It was a rather lousy excuse to pull, after all.

It was only when she had shot out all of her worries and the sun began to set that she noticed Poe had been nearby, apparently overseeing the training of some of the younger recruits.

"Princess, second time today here," he commented, "You haven't been around here in forever?" He leaned in a little closer and added in a quiet whisper, "Is something from last night bothering you?"

She smiled at him, "No, Poe. It's actually tomorrow that has me on edge for some reason. I'm going to the Shrine with my father tomorrow. I imagine you'll probably be present as well; or I'd certainly like you to be."

The guardsman nodded, "Of course, Princess. By the way, was Shiro bothering you earlier?"

Zelda let out a small grimace at that. "A little," she confessed. "I think he may have been trying a rather weak attempt at getting my attention. I wouldn't have minded so much if he hadn't been bothering me in the midst of my shooting."

Poe looked thoughtful for a moment, "I suppose he has been asking me a lot about you… before he asks if I can cover for him, that is." That last part ended up coming out in an annoyed tone. "If you'd like I can talk to him, tell him to leave you alone or at the very least not disturb you while you're in the middle of nocking an arrow." He offered.

She smiled up at her friend. "Thank you, Poe. You really don't need to, but if you feel that's the best course of action I won't stop you." Zelda was so glad to have such a good friend. But she didn't keep him any longer, and gave him a warm farewell before heading to dinner.

Dinner in Hyrule Castle was actually a rather personal and enclosed thing. It was usually just her and her father in his office rather than making use of the large dining room. It had seemed so pointless to have such a large table set up for only two people, and as such it was usually only used in the presence of foreign diplomats.

Zelda took the chance while she was eating with her father to ask if she could join in on greeting a Labrynnian envoy if they came. Again, Link warned her it would be dreadfully boring business, and she justified that she would have to learn to do these things sooner or later. Her father agreed, but said they wouldn't plan anything definite until there was a confirmation that Labrynna would be sending anyone to begin with.

After dinner, she visited the stable to see Epona and was pleasantly surprised to see Miss Malon from Lon Lon Ranch there. Apparently, she was there to check on the status of the stables and make sure they were up to par for the horses she provided for the castle. They got into some light chit chat as Zelda decided to brush Epona, and the princess couldn't help but ask, "Miss Malon… do you and my father like each other?"

The ranch mistress chuckled for a moment, "Of course I like your father. We've been friends for nearly 30 years."

But Zelda gave the woman a sly smile and clarified, "No, I meant do you _really_ like my father?"

She was confused for a moment, before her face reddened, she fidgeted on her stool, and sputtered, "N-now why would you ask that?"

"I'm just curious," she said impishly, "I don't mind, you know. I don't like seeing my father alone so much, missing my mother." The playfulness dropped then into a somber silence; even her brushing of Epona had stopped mid-stroke. Zelda didn't miss her mother. There was nothing to miss; she had died before she was born. It sounded so weird, to say that her mother had died before she was born, yet it was true. She had never gotten to know her mother at all, so she was spared from that grief. But her father wasn't.

She felt Malon's hand on her shoulder. She looked to the older woman, seeing her smile gently at her, "You and your father care for each other something fierce. He's not as alone as you might think." The ranch mistress said to her. And then to brighten the tone she stepped back again, sitting herself back on her stool and said, "But never mind me or your father – why'd you want to know about romance between us older folks? What about you? Now that your dad's lifted that ban on boys, there has to be someone you've had your eye on?"

The younger girl blushed, awkwardly returning to brushing the mare, "There was one around a year ago… But it's not likely to happen. He's in Labrynna now. Ever since him, though, I haven't really considered anyone else. I haven't really thought about it at all, really."

"Really? Not even that guardsman you're so friendly with?" Malon asked.

Zelda flinched, "Poe? No, never! He's my friend and that's it!" Yuck! She loved Poe like a brother and nothing more, and he'd even said she was like a sister.

But her reaction made Malon laugh, and the older woman went on to say, "All right, all right! Well, no worries. No need to think too hard about it. Look at me, I've never been married and run a business all by myself! Don't think about it and if it happens, it happens."

The princess smiled at her. That was true. She wouldn't even think of it. Her father halfheartedly wanted her to find someone, and she had been excited at first. Now, though, she was realizing the glamor of relationships that her Castle Town friends spoke of didn't seem glamorous at all. She honestly had no idea what she looked for in a man, and all these fellows who were coming up to her lately were more annoying than attractive. Yes, Malon was right. She wouldn't worry about it. There were much more important things to worry about.

And then her mind again revisited the Shrine.

She just wanted to get tomorrow over with.

* * *

This was a bit of a set up chapter, as such, not much really happened. And for that, I apologize. On the bright side, next chapter things will happen! What things? You'll find out! In the meantime, I'm adding some Oracle of Ages into this, because a decent chunk of Ages takes place in the past and I'm just guessing that Hyrule and Labrynna have had some sort of working relationship for a while. Also, I ship Malink. It's not a huge OTP of mine. My OTPs are VaaZel, BlindZelda, and Midlink. But I like Malink; I think it's cute. But I've never had a decent story idea for it... just like I've never had a decent story idea for Midlink. Baaaaaw. Nonetheless, there will only be these subtle overtones to it in the story and I've yet to decide if it will actually happen or not within _Tempest_, mostly because our focus is the VaatiZelda.

Anyways, let's discuss _Reversal_ book, yes? As a fanfiction, it cannot be sold as a publication. It has copyrighted characters and the intellectual property of Nintendo and Capcom. However, a handmade book is quite a loophole. Because with a handmade book, you wouldn't be paying for the content, but the supplies that goes into making the book. Each book of Reversal will have some illustration and will be bound by hand. Hardcover and paperback options are available, as are other customizations. If you're interested, please visit my DA or send me a PM on this site. Actual transactions will take place through Etsy.

**Swamp Dragon Princess**, a trigger warning is pretty much that. Basically, before the chapter starts, the author puts a warning about any sensitive subject matter, such as character death or torture. I really dislike them because it tells you what to expect, and as an author, I like to keep my readers guessing. They're not spoilers, but they might as well be. I don't want to warn people about anything because I want them to be taken by surprise. Trigger warnings take away that surprise, and personally, I think the only reason it's done because everyone has to be so hyper PC about everything. I'm sure there are some good reasons people do it, but it really just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Eh, I tried. XD Alas, it won't be hidden in the details. Or, if it is... I won't be conscious of it. XD Sort of yes. You'll see as it goes along. It does sound familiar!


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